The Iraqi Defense Ministry is claiming that the leader of al Qaeda in Iraq, Abu Hamza al-Muhajir, has been arrested. Let's hope this early report pans out.

U.S. officials said al-Masri joined an extremist group led by al-Qaida's No.2 official in 1982. He joined al-Qaida training camps in Afghanistan in 1999 and trained as a car bombing expert before traveling to Iraq after the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

Few details are known about him, but he is believed to have been born in 1969 in Egypt's Nile Delta province of El-Sharqiya. He reportedly left school in the early 1980s to join Islamic Jihad, a group that opposed Egypt's pro-American government and linked to the 1981 assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.

According to associates in Afghanistan, al-Masri has been involved in Islamic extremist movements since 1982, when he joined Islamic Jihad, a terror group led by Ayman al-Zawahri, who became bin Laden's chief deputy.

Hey, I thought Al-Qaeda wasn't in Iraq! Oh who cares; the war is obviously a distraction from Change and Hope and The Future and stuff.

But just look at this loser. I've seen manlier facial hair on 9th graders. Dude, try shaving for a while to see if it grows back fuller. At least use that Rogaine shampoo for a while.

You know, the more I look at that photo, the more familiar it looks. No, not the headgear and robe, just the face. Let me check something in Photoshop...



Hey, that's Trevor — the 20-year-old dude who hung out in my high school parking lot with his El Camino!

Man, it'll be an awkward class reunion this year.